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Here? In a small town?
Posted by: Cawfee on 2026-01-22 18:22:53 So, I am not active in finding old Macs, but the Macintosh Classic Era Hardware interested me. I popped by my local Computer Refurbisher that started off with Apple Hardware. Saw a Macintosh SE, and was interested. Now, where I live is nowhere near known for holding expensive technology or even having money, but the gentleman got me in contact with an Apple Collector. Visited tonight, and scored a Macintosh SE with two 3.5 Floppy Readers built in, and not only that, a Rodime Systems 60 PLUS. As I understand it, with lack of knowledge on this stuff, how good of a deal was it? And from the sounds and looks of it, was $300 a good deal? The drive in it, being 60 MB, if it is original and has no bad sectors, does that mean an extremely good thing? I can send photos later, and even take a peek at the inner Drive Cage and drive brand.
Posted by: Brett B. on 2026-01-22 19:29:22 More than I’d pay by a lot but I just sold a nice SE FDHD with no upgrades or extras for $200. If it spoke to you, that’s all that matters. The SE is one of my favorite machines - they are just not very upgradable and I think that hurts the value a bit for most people.
Posted by: Byrd on 2026-01-22 21:27:32 Congrats on the find! If you have never seen one in your town and will never see it again, get it - a few hundred bucks for is fair. The Mac SE is generally very reliable (ideally recap PSU and analogue board caps in turn), and runs early software notably faster than a Plus.
Posted by: Juror22 on 2026-01-22 22:20:40 I did not see it mentioned - did it come with the keyboard and mouse included? If not, I would definitely hit up the "Apple Collector" to provide you with ones (gratis) for the system you bought.
Posted by: Cawfee on 2026-01-23 00:31:08 I did not see it mentioned - did it come with the keyboard and mouse included? If not, I would definitely hit up the "Apple Collector" to provide you with ones (gratis) for the system you bought. Yeah, got the power cables, the data cable (missing a thumb screw, but we can't have it entire for the age), and both mouse and keyboard too!
Posted by: ClassicGuyPhilly on 2026-01-23 04:08:37 Congratulations and welcome to the SE club!
Posted by: Cawfee on 2026-01-23 07:22:05 As promised, here are photos.
Posted by: luRaichu on 2026-01-23 07:42:44 There is a 16 MHz 68030 CPU upgrade called the Performer. If you know how to solder you can build one or I can do it for a fee.
Posted by: Cawfee on 2026-01-23 08:11:34 As promised, here are photos.View attachment 94787 View attachment 94788 View attachment 94789 View attachment 94790 View attachment 94791 I plan to buy a BlueSCSI to mount inside the system or design my own Drive Caddy so I can have an array of 2.5" HDDs, that way I can preserve the Rodime HDD while it is functional.. And are there any video game Recommendations for a beginner like me? I know one of them are The Oregon Trail. I think it'd also be fun to play some Text Adventures, but I don't know any.
Posted by: luRaichu on 2026-01-23 08:36:12 I think it'd also be fun to play some Text Adventures, but I don't know any. https://macintoshgarden.org/games/classic-text-adventure-masterpieces-of-infocom
Posted by: ClassicGuyPhilly on 2026-01-23 10:21:25 The dual floppies rock! My favorite Compact case type.
Posted by: Brett B. on 2026-01-23 10:52:07 Nice! How much RAM did you get with it? Looks like it is an 800k model originally? Some got upgraded with a 1.44MB logic board (like mine.) Curious which you have.
Posted by: Cawfee on 2026-01-23 11:18:01 Nice! How much RAM did you get with it? Looks like it is an 800k model originally? Some got upgraded with a 1.44MB logic board (like mine.) Curious which you have.
Posted by: Cawfee on 2026-01-23 11:21:40 I am noticing the screen has some graphical things, like it isn't 100% stable, so I may actually need to recap it sometime in the near future. It isn't like an annoying persistent, but it is a noticeable if you saw a stable and top condition one. So I may shut it down and pack it away for now until I have all the supplies I need.
Posted by: joshc on 2026-01-23 11:26:27 like it isn't 100% stable, weak solder joints on the analog board -> yoke board connector. reflow those, see if it improves. caps are rarely the actual problem on SEs, though it won't hurt to replace them. but reflowing joints is far quicker and easier to try first PSU voltages might be a bit off, check those
Posted by: Cawfee on 2026-01-23 11:47:04 weak solder joints on the analog board -> yoke board connector. reflow those, see if it improves. caps are rarely the actual problem on SEs, though it won't hurt to replace them. but reflowing joints is far quicker and easier to try first PSU voltages might be a bit off, check those I'll try that once I have a Jumper cable. For now though, it'll be stored in a safe environment.
Posted by: Brett B. on 2026-01-23 13:01:50 IIRC there is a "focus" adjustment - been many years since I've done that but again IIRC it was the rings on the CRT yoke. I would do that as a last resort, try reflowing the solder joints first and reseat everything. Keep in mind that these often improve or change once they have had time to warm up so don't adjust anything cold. Sometimes they are just not perfect no matter what, screen burn in and time affect things in unexpected ways.
Posted by: adespoton on 2026-01-23 16:27:42 I plan to buy a BlueSCSI to mount inside the system or design my own Drive Caddy so I can have an array of 2.5" HDDs, that way I can preserve the Rodime HDD while it is functional.. And are there any video game Recommendations for a beginner like me? I know one of them are The Oregon Trail. I think it'd also be fun to play some Text Adventures, but I don't know any. A few you need to have on hand: Dark Castle Beyond Dark Castle Crystal Quest Apache Strike A Mind Forever Voyaging Zork I - III Championship Lode Runner Daleks Hitchiker's Guide IAGO Brickles Shufflepuck Billiard Parlour PhraseCraze Plus Dungeon of Doom Theldrow Choplifter Ultima III Wizardry Capt'n Magneto Duck Hunt NetTrek Risk! Social Climber The NEW Daleks Beyond Zork Cairo Shootout Gunshy Iggy Iggopolis LunarLander (because it's so painful) Space Quest I and II, and King's Quest I and II (if you're OK playing them in B&W... they all play better in colour on a modern system in SCUMMVM) MacHack MazerLaze Scarab of RA SpaceStation Pheta Zork Zero World Class Leader Board Golf That takes us from 1984 up to 1988. There's other stuff too, but that's a decent selection of different types of early games that could be fun to play on an SE.
Posted by: volvo242gt on 2026-01-23 17:54:05 Arkanoid Tetris Super Tetris Three more titles...
Posted by: ClassicGuyPhilly on 2026-01-24 13:32:35 And since he is a bit modest @joshc has an amazing site at https://machut.net/ with lots of goodies 🙂
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